The ship, the legend, and the Bee
by smartcat9
Summary: The Ark, a home he never got the chance to know and now must return to. How does Bumblebee fit in with the legend of the Primes and can he find the answers he seeks? Read to find out. Reviews necessary, this is my first fanfic ever! Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - Transmissions and Travel**

After everyone went into stasis for the night, I climbed onto the roof to gather my thoughts. Life has been hectic ever since we landed on Earth. Megatron and his Decepticons have been fighting us none stop since the All-spark dispersed into fragments and the Elite Guard hasn't been helpful with the fact either. For added artillery they gave us stasis cuffs, no backup, no weapons, pit, they didn't even give us any hints as how to locate the other fragments or how to get rid of the Decepticons. All the fighting that we have done since discovering the All-spark makes me longing for my home. It was peaceful there, everyone was kind and considerate, not like on Cybertron or here on Earth. I researched Earth's history and was shocked by how similar the humans and Cybertronians are.

Thinking of my home I subconsciously grabbed a small object from my subspace pocket. It was a small shinny sphere that had a living picture of the quadrant my home was located in. And at the center of it all was a large ship roughly half the size of Earth's moon. It was not much to look at, just an ancient colony ship, but on the inside was a lively place, like a small country for transformers like myself. I watch the stars above me, and let the tears flow while clutching the sphere as a life line, the unwanted memories of my last moments aboard my home flashing through my processor.

I sat like that for awhile before a car drove by and snapped me out of my little trance. Wiping the tears from my face plate, I sub spaced the sphere and headed inside to my berth room to get some rest.

* * *

In the morning, everyone was in the Rec. room consuming morning nutrients of oil and energon. (Sari was with her dad on a vacation for a few days so we wont needing any human food.) Optimus Prime was talking to Ratchet about the recent 'con activity, Prowl was being his silent ninja self, and Bulkhead was going over some calculations for the space bridge he and Professor Sumdac are making. It was nice to have a peaceful morning and, unfortunately, it was reminding me of my home and I would rather not remember right now; so I decided to disrupt things a bit.

"Hey guys, what are we doing today?" I asked trying to sound bored.

"Later you and Bulkhead will go to the site were Megatron's space bridge was and try to find parts to use in the one we are building. Prowl, Ratchet and myself will be patrolling the city keeping an eye out for any trouble and, hopefully, find some more fragments." Prime said nonchalantly.

"Yes and try to be careful while you are out. I've fixed too many dents this past week and I am not in the mood to be fixing any more, understand?" Ratchet said in a threatening tone. I knew he really didn't mean anything by it. We all can tell that he cares about us and does not want us to get hurt.

I put on a big grin and replied "Don't worry doc-bot, we'll be fine."

After breakfast, Bulkhead and I went back to the mine, found some parts, and brought them back without any problems, which made Ratchet relieved. The others found an All-spark fragment without needing our assistance and all in all today was a good day.

The next morning began with alarms sounding, jolting me awake from stasis. Groaning I got up and hurried into the main room to join the others.

"what's with all the racket!" Yelled Ratchet. "Decepticons?" asked Prowl. "Another All-spark fragment?" asked Bulkhead.

Prime shook his, "No. Teletran-1 picked up a long distance emergency transition from an unknown source in space."

Curious I asked, "If the message is from space, then how were we able to pick it up from the planet's surface?"

"It didn't come through very well. We lost a part of the message because of the atmosphere, but I was able to unscramble what we did receive." Prime said as he began the sequence to play the video.

At first the screen was just static and then it cleared up, not completely, but enough to see the background of a command center in a ship. A tall mech was on the screen, you could tell he was old, older than Ratchet old, and was dying from his graying armor. "We are under attack … the Defender ha … len. I repeat … Defender has fallen. Find the Ark before it's too late!" At that the mech was stabbed through by a dark shadow and the video cut out.

There was a stunned silence between us as we let the message sink in. Optimus was first to speak, "The Defender and the Ark, hmm, those names sound familiar."

Ratchet faced the Prime and said, "It should since you watched all of those history vids. The Ark and the Defender were two of the most advanced ships ever built by Cybertronians, and they happen to be ancient vessels created during the time of the Thirteen Primes, long before the war started."

"If they were created that long ago, how are they relevant to the war against the Decepticons?" asked Prowl.

Prime pondered for a moment before answering, "They were large warships and very powerful, but, if I recall correctly, the Ark was more of a carrier vessel for a powerful artifact similar to the All-spark and the Defender was it's sister ship which was more of a guardian vessel to the Ark."

"And that's not all." Everyone turned to Ratchet as he spoke, "The Defender carried one of the keys to unlocking whatever was sealed inside of the Ark. There were many stories about what the artifact was, and, since the Thirteen suddenly disappeared when they were finished building the ships, many think that the Ark contains the remains of the Thirteen Primes and their weapons."

"So, the 'cons wanted the power of the primes?" asked a confused Bulkhead.

"Yes, and he was close to gaining them before they vanished through the space bridge." finished Ratchet.

"I'm finding some weird similarities here." Prowl said, remembering the story about the All-spark and their first encounter with it.

Everyone looked at him like he grew an extra limb. Uncomfortably he said, "What?"

"I was expecting a comment like that to be made from the kid, not Prowl." Ratchet said mainly to himself but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Speaking of Bumblebee…" Prime trailed off, "He has been awfully quiet."

Tapping him on the shoulder, Bulkhead said, "Hey little buddy, are you okay?"

Quickly snapping out of it, Bumblebee replies, "Oh, uh, everything is fine why do you ask."

"You haven't said a word since we watched the transmission. We were getting worried about you." said Prime

"Oh, sorry I was just thinking that we should contact the Elite Guard about this, you know, incase it's really important or something." Bee said while rubbing the back of his helm.

Nodding Prime said, "That's a good idea. I'll call Ultra Magnus and see what he thinks about it. The rest of you are dismissed."

With that Prime faced the monitor again to call Cybertron while the rest did whatever they felt like. Ratchet went into the med-bay, Prowl went to his room to meditate, Bulkhead to paint, and I decided to go to out for a drive.

* * *

Outside the base I thought about what the bot on the transmission said, to find the Ark. The Ark sounded too familiar, come to think of it, my home is a large ship, but I never learned it's name. I wish I did learn it. Sighing I continued to drive around deep in thought until Optimus comm. Linked me saying that the Elite Guard will be arriving within the hour, having received the transmission earlier and was in the galaxy.

I bided my time and headed towards the direction of the Elite Guard ship when I saw it was landing.

I arrived just in time to meet up with Ultra Magnus, Sentinel Prime, Jazz, and the jet twins, Jetfire and Jetstorm. I transformed into robot mode and walked up to them, "Welcome back to Earth." I said with enthusiasm.

"Greetings young scout. I did not expect to have anyone meet with us." said the Magnus

"Oh, I was already out on patrol so I thought I might escort you back to base." I said. "Well isn't that nice." retorted Sentinel.

I ignored him and greeted the others, "Hey Jazz, twins." "How's it hanging Bee." said Jazz "It is good to be seeing you." said the twins.

"Let us head out now. Autobots transform." said ultra Magnus as he transformed into a military assault vehicle. I transformed and took the lead to base, which Sentinel complained about, but we ignored him. The jet twins got there first, since they took the sky road.

At the base, and back in robot mode, we met up with the rest of my teammates, who were already chatting with the twins.

Ultra Magnus called into the Rec. room, since it was big enough for all of us to be in, and proceeded to explain the situation. "We received the transmission earlier in the week. The Defender was a first class warship with highly advanced technology and weaponry, finding that it was defeated is a problem."

"So what do you propose we do Ultra Magnus, sir?" asked Opitmus. "I propose that we find the Ark before whoever it was that destroyed the Defender. We already know that a map to the Ark exists and once we find it we can leave to find the Ark." said the Magnus.

"Wait, so you're saying that the map to the Ark is here on Earth?" asked Prowl from his spot next to Jazz. "From what our sensors picked up, it's somewhere in the city." said Sentinel.

I stood there thinking, 'I came from a ship, the name Ark sound familiar, and the sphere that pictures my home could possibly be used as a map when looking at the stars in the picture.' I needed more information if I was to mention about my home so I asked, "What does the map look like?"

"It is small and round and shows the Ark's current location in real time affects." said Jazz. Seeming to notice that I tensed up, Ultra Magnus looked at me and before he could say something, Sentinel said in an accusing tone, "You know something don't you?"

I said nothing and took out the sphere from my subspace pocket to show everyone who just gaped at the sphere in aw. "I have had this since I was a sparkling. It's the only thing I have left of my home, which is the ship in the picture." Now everyone shifted their gaze to me as I continued, "I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but from what has been said, there were too many coincidences to keep quiet about it."

"This is indeed the map we were looking for, though I am surprised to hear that you are from the Ark." said Ultra Magnus.

"I didn't know that it was the Ark. I never really learned the name of it since I had to leave during my early sparkling years." I said somewhat sadly. "I don't even know why I had to leave or why I was the only one that left." Ultra Magnus placed his hand on my shoulder in comfort, "Once we find the Ark, you will likely find the answers you seek." he said to me before announcing, "We shall now make arrangements to leave for the Ark. We leave in two days time."

* * *

**Meanwhile, at the Decepticon base…**

"The Ark escaped me once, but it will not escape me again!" growled Megatron as he finished listening to the Autobots conversation. "Blitzwing, Lugnut prepare the ship for departure."

"Yes of course my liege." Lugnut bowed as he said this before leaving the room. Blitzwing followed him after saying, "yes my lord."

Megatron turned to the monitor where Shockwave appeared on the screen. "Greeting Lord Megatron. Is there something that you need?"

Inwardly smirking, Megatron relayed his orders, "Shockwave, I need you to get every bit of information you can on the Ark, it's sister ship the Defender, and the autobot scout Bumblebee." Shockwave was slightly shocked about Megatron's interest in his old boot camp pal, but he knew not to question Megatron's orders. "As you command, my lord." he said before the connection ended.

'Soon, very soon, the Ark and it's contents shall be mine.' thought Megatron evilly. 'and all that I need is that map.' Queue evil laughter

* * *

**Back at the Autobot base...**

The Elite Guard went back to their ship while my friends and I gathered our gear. Optimus had called Sari and her dad to tell them about our trip, he said that Sari was hysterical. She took the next flight home and within a few hours arrived at the base.

"I'm back guys!" Sari yelled as she came into the factory. "And I demand that you tell me everything!" Oh she was mad, very scary mad.

Jazz happened to be with us at the time so he and Prowl began explaining about the transmission we received, about the two ships' history, and went over my involvement, with some reluctance.

"Okay, so let me get this strait. You guys are leaving to find a ship called the Ark so you can protect a bunch of dead guys and said ship just so happens to be Bumblebee's home. Did I get all that right?" Sari said, she was still a little confused about why the 'cons would want dead people. She cringed at the thought.

Jazz and Prowl nodded to say that yes she did get it right. Optimus, Ratchet, and Bulkhead came into the room, carrying some boxes when they heard Sari say, "Okay, so you do know that I'm not letting you guys leave without me right?" She looked up at the bots in the room and flashed a mischievous grin.

"Sari, that decision up to Ultra Magnus, not us." Optimus said placing the box he was carrying down on the other side of the room. "O.P. is right little lady. Though he may not mind you tagging along." Jazz stated as the other boxes were set down next to the first. "I can ask him when I go back to the ship later."

"Thanks Jazz." Looking around the room Sari noticed the lack of yellow mini-bots, "Has anyone seen Bumblebee?" Bulkhead replied, "Little buddy is either in his room or on the roof." "Thanks Bulkhead!" Sari said while leaving to find her friend.

* * *

Sari found Bumblebee on the roof looking out at the city looking sad. She walked up beside him and sat down, they sat there in silence for a few minutes before he said, "I'm going to miss Detriot and Earth." Worried about her friend, Sari said, "Why do you say that? It's like you are never coming back."

bee sighed before saying, "Sari, I don't know if I am. I mean I haven't been home since I was a sparkling. I want to see the Ark again with all my spark and with it being in danger..." he trailed off, "I just don't know."

Sari looked up into her friends face plate, both were on the verge of tears. Sari got up and hugged her friend around the neck and said, "Even if you don't come back, I am going with you so you'll have a part of Earth with you when go home." He embraced her back and asked, "You are coming with us?" She let go and got into her tough girl pose saying, "If they don't let me I will still find a way to go with you." He smiled and softly said, "Thank you."

They sat together looking out towards the city as the sun began to set. When the sun disappeared into to distance, Sari got up and said, "Well if I'm gonna go you you guys, I better pack. Wanna give my a lift for old time sake?" He gently picked up his friend and said, "Sure, I had everything packed before I came up here."

Sari smiled and said, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" With that they climbed down from the roof and went to Sumdac Tower. Not noticing the dark shadow that watching them from a distance.

'So that's the keeper of the map. It will be too difficult to try and steal it, might as well follow them from a distance then.' thought the shadow as it disapeared into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Space and Danger**

The day has come for the autobots to leave Earth and say good bye to their human friends. Professor Sumdac and Captian Fanzone were there and sent them off.

Onboard the Elite Guard's ship, Sari was helping Bumblebee with settling into the room they were given for the trip. Sari was given permission to come with us from Ultra Magnus and her father, much to Sentinel Prime's distress. He practically blew a gasket when he heard that the techno-organic was going with them.

The other members of the repair crew were doing the same and getting settled in with Jazz and the twin helping them out. Sari and Bee finished getting everything set when Ultra Magnus called over the intercomm for everyone to meet at the command center.

With Bee and Sari coming in last, everyone was together, signaling for the Magnus to begin the meeting. "Welcome aboard. Now that we have left Earth's atmosphere we can begin looking for the Ark." Sentinel was queued to typing a sequence into a computer to open a small compartment. "Bumblebee if you could place the map into that compartment, we will be able to pin point which quadrant the Ark is located."

Bumblebee hesitantly placed the map into the compartment and stepped back. It didn't take long for the main monitor to show directions to the Ark, which is in a galaxy near the center of the universe. About a weeks worth of travel if they take the nearest spacebridge.

Acknowledging the data, Ultra Magnus turned to his navigations officer, "Jazz set a course for the nearest spacebridge." Facing his guests he said, "Optimus, you and your team are free to do as you wish." Optimus nodded and said, "Yes, sir." And motioned for his team to follow him out. They left heading off to their rooms, or in Ratchet's case, the med-bay.

In their room, Sari and Bumblebee began to play a videogame they had brought. After a while Jetfire and Jetstorm passed by and noticed them playing games, "What is you to be doing?" Asked Jetfire. Bumblebee replied, "Playing a game, want to to join us?" The twins looked at each other in excitement, then Jetstorm said, "We is being not needed." then Jetfire said, "Let us be joining them brother." "Yes let's." As they sat down Bee gave Jetfire his remote control and began teaching him and his brother how to play. Within a short amount of time, the twins got the hang of it.

Bumblebee got up after noticing that his tanks were low on fuel, "Hey guys, I'm going to get some energon cubes. I will be right back." "Okay Bee, we will be here when you get back." Said Sari watching Jetstorm cream his brother in the game.

Bumblebee disapeared down the hall and into the kitchen to grab some energon cubes for himself and the twins.

* * *

**With the Decepticons...**

The Decepticon ship slowly followed the autobots, staying out of radar range. In the ships command center, Blitwing and Lugnut were having one of their usual bickering matches about some unimportant subject, while Blackarachnia and Soundwave watched. Megatron then came into the room, in a regal manner, and proceeded to his commander's chair.

Once seated he spoke, "Soundwave, get Shockwave on screen." Soundwave did as he was told and after typing a few sequences into the computer, Shockwave appeared on the screen as his guise, Longarm then shifted into his original form. "Lord Megatron, I have the information you have requested."

Blackarachnia silenced Blitwing and Lugnut, while Megatron said, "Good. Tell me what you have found."

Shockwave nodded as he said, "As you wish." Clearing his throught he began, "Long before the war, during the time and reign of the Thirteen Primes, the Ark and the Defender were created protect some of Cybertron's more powerful artifacts and weapons safe. Rumor has it that the remains of the Thirteen are also hidden within the Ark. As to how the items would be protected, a special vault was designed and the blueprints destroyed. The only way inside the vault is to use three keys which would be placed into the door to unlock it. Once the items were secure inside the vault, the keys were split up, one located on the Defender, one on Cybertron, and the last is on the Ark itself."

Blitzwing, as Icy, asks, "If there is a key on Cybertron shouldn't we go there first?" Shockwave replied, "There is no need to look for the Cybertron key." This time Blackarachnia askes, "And why is that." "Because we already have the key." said Megatron pulling out a sphere that was similar to Bumblebee's, but had the symbol of Cybertron in the center and instead of stars, the symbol was orbited by small blue lights. "Oh, makes sense."

"Continue Shockwave." said Megatron. Shockwave took a monent before continuing, "Yes, the Decepticons have Cybertron's key, the unknown transformer from the transmission we recieved most likely has the Defender's key, and the last key, as far as we know, is still on the Ark. Though I have my doubts about that."

"Explain." said Megatron. "While I was searching through old files in the Elite Guard's database, I found an ecrypted message sent supposedly from the Ark to Cybertron. It was sent around the time of the last few years of the war. From what I was able to decode, the message contained data on a small galaxy near the edge of the universe and some spieces called the Vok. That is as far as I have gotten in the deciphering process." Finished Shockwave.

"As to why I believe the key is not on the Ark, I must first give you the information you requested on Bumblebee." Shockwave said pausing to gather his thoughts.

"I rumaged through his records and found that there is nothing on him from his life before boot camp. His age is unkown, place of origin unknown, his creators are unknown, everything about who or what he is, is unknown." "It is a wonder on how he got into the military with a background like that." Blitzwing said while interupting Shockwave. "I over heard a conversation with him and another cadet, a while back, that he had a sponsor help him with the entry fees, he never inclined to say who it was though." replied the spy.

"Anyway, I'm not done. Looking into old personel records for the Ark and the Defender, I found that the ships, over time, turned into their own little colonies. Those who worked on the ships had their families move in for security reasons, even the Primes had their families relocated. Here is a picture of the Primes with their families." Shockwave said as a group picture appeared on the monitor.

The picture was centered around the Thirteen Primes who were surounded by their loved ones. (Ordered from left to right and top to bottom) First was a large blue and black mech with his bond mate, a red and orange femme. Next to him is a blue femme with white highlights holding a light blue and yellow sparkling, next to her is a brown and green femme kissing her bond mate, then is a neon green mech with his arm around his twin, a red mech, last on the top row is an orange and blue mech holding his bond mate a white and red femme and sparkling. On the bottom row starts with a purple femme standing close to a pink femme, a red mech grinning with the white and black femme next to him, the next three are triplet fliers, one is blue and red mech, the second a blue and yellow mech, and the third is a green femme and her brown mech bond mate. Standing infront of the bottom row is the leader of the Primes, a regal looking blue and gold mech holding a hammer similar to the Magnus hammer but was predominately gold with blue, next to him is a gold and black femme with doorwings holding a very small yellow and black sparkling who was sleeping.

"Is that the autobot scout?" Blackarachnia asked. "I do see the resemblance, but the mini-bot is too young to be this sparkling." said Blitzwing. Megatron scowled at the picture for a while before saying, "Shockwave, if the scout is indeed this sparkling, then why was he on Cybertron?"

"I don't know my lord, but if they thought it was necessary for him to leave the Ark, then they might have also sent the third key with him." said Shockwave

The 'cons looked to their leader, who was still scowling at the picture. So many questions were running though Megatron's processor, 'Why did this young bot leave the Ark? Why is he still so young?' There were too many questions surounding the Ark and the autobot for his comfort.

"So far they have the advantage in numbers, but we have the element of suprise. Once through the space bridge we will attack, board their ship, take the map and, if we can, take the scout." announced Megatron. "Team Charr is nearby your location. Shall I send them as reinforcements?" asked Shockwave. Megatron said "Yes and let them know of the plan. That is all for now Shockwave." Shockwave left the screen as the connection ended. Megatron smirked to himself and thought 'All is coming together nicely.' He looked at his key 'Soon, very soon, the secrets of the Ark shall be mine'

* * *

**On the Autobots' Ship...**

Optimus Prime was walking down the hall towards the command center when he noticed Bumblebee with a tray of energon cubes. "Hello Bumblebee, having fun with Sari and the twins?" Bumblebee looked up at the Prime and replied, "Yah, it's been great! Me and Sari tought the jet twins how to play video games and they have been at it none stop."

Optimus chuckled, "Sounds like you created a couple of monsters." Bumblebee beemed and, with a mischievous grin, "You know, since I got Jazz during their last visit to earth all I need to do is get Ultra Magnus to play,and I will have finished corrupting the Elite Guard. Oh what joy it would be to see Sentinel's reaction to the Magnus playing video games!"

Optimus pondered the thought for a moment before saying, "Huh, I actually would like to see that. If not to get Ultra Magnus to have fun, the reaction from Sentinel would be too priceless to pass up."

"What would be too priceless to pass up?" said Ratchet coming out of the room next to them. Bumblebee replied, "Getting Ultra Magnus to play video games and Sentinel's reaction when it happens." Ratchet looked at him like he grew another limb and went back into the room shaking his head and mumbling something about having too much high grade.

Bumblebee glanced at Optimus who shrugged and went on his way to the command center while Bee went back to his room.

A few more hours went by and the young bots and techno-organic were asleep in a pile on the floor from exhaustion. Sari woke from their nap first and sleepily looked around at her crashed friends. Jetfire's head was laying on Jetstorm's chest and Jetstorm's arm was draped over Bumblebee. Sari was siting on Bee's chest her gaze lasting longer over her best friend, thinking about what might happen when they do find the Ark. 'Will he really stay there and never come back?' 'What will we find when we get there?' She pondered about until she felt Bumblebee start to wake up. She got off his chest as he got up and said sleepily, "Hey Sari. What time is it?" She giggled at her friend and replied, "Just after ten in the morning."

"Oh, we should be getting close to the space bridge then." said Bee as he started shaking the twins, "Hey guys wake up." "It is to being too early." mumbled Jetfire. "Too early" repeated Jetstorm. Then Bumblebee got a sneaky idea, "Okay, I guess that means Sari and I will have your shares of the oil cakes." He quickly moved out of the way bringing Sari with him just as the twins bolted up and ran out of the room yelling, "CAKES OF OIL!"

Sari looked to Bumblebee for an explaination. "Oil cakes are their favorite." he said while wearing a wide grin. Sari and Bumblebee headed down to the kitchen and joined the twins, who were digging into some oil cakes.

Bee grabbed some cakes for him and Sari along with two cubes of energon. While they ate they talked about the previous night and joked about random things.

When everyone finished their breakfast, Bumblebee recieved a message from Optimus, "Bumblebee bring the twins and Sari to the command center. We are close to the space bridge." "You got it Boss-bot." Bee replied. He turned to the others and said, "Hey guys, we're needed at the command center. Boss-bot says we are close to the space bridge."

The twins replied together, "Okey a dokey." and Sari said, "Okay." They left the kitchen, went down the hall, and entered the command center where everyone else was already assembled.

Ultra Magnus stood in the center of the room with both Primes flanking him, Sentinel on the right and Optimus on the left. Jazz was at his station chatting with Prowl, the Jet twins went to their stations to get to work, and Ratchet was standing in the back where Bumblebee and Sari decided to join him.

On the main monitor, which was also the window, they could see the space bridge. Sari was staring at the space bridge, marveling at its large size.

"It's huge!" She said in aw. Sentinel was about to make a rude comment but was stopped by a quick reply from Bulkhead. "Yep, space bridges that reside in space are normally this size. You see, they need to be large enough for ships to travel through." He said in an educating manner. "Oh. Cool!" said Sari, excidedly anticipating traveling through such a large bridge.

When the ship got close enough, Ultra Magnus ordered Jazz to open the space bridge using the coordinates that the map provided.

The bridge opened with a large flash of light, before receeding to the blue orb that is usually at the center of space bridges.

The ship entered the space bridge and had just exited when a large boom was heard and the ship jerked, making the occupants get thrown around the room.

Speaking over the growns, Sentinel yelled, "What the slag was that?" Jazz and the twins were quick in recovering and began looking for the source of the noise.

Jetfire was the first to respond, "We is to be having company Ultra Magnus, sir." "It is to being the decepticons, sir." added Jetstorm as live feed showing the decepticon warship poped up onto the main screen.

Ultra Magnus finished recovering from his fall and said, "Evasive maneuvers! Fire the main cannons at that ship!" "We can't, sir. The main engine has been hit. We are stuck unless it's fixed." said Jazz. "I doubt the 'cons would give us time to fix the engine." said Prowl.

Another boom was heard, this time it was louder. "They're boarding the ship!" someone yelled. "The Elite Guard will intercept them." Ultra Magnus said before turning to Optimus, "Optimus Prime, get your team and the map to the escape pod." "Yes, sir!" replied Optimus as the Magnus and his team left the room.

Prime turned to his team and said, "You heard him. Grab the map and let's roll out!" Bumblebee ran to the computer and grabbed the map. He and the others transformed and drove out of the room and down the hall towards the escape pod.

* * *

**With the Elite Guard...**

They had just arrived to where the Decepticons entered their ship when they were attacked by a barrage of missles. Sentinel used his shield to protect them from the impact as Jetstorm used his wind abilities to blow away the smoke. Once gone, they saw that their attackers were Megatron, Blitzwing, and Lugnut.

The Elite Guard charged forward, Ultra Magnus and Sentinel took on Megatron, while Jazz fought Blitzwing, and the Jet twins ganged up on Lugnut.

Megatron ruthlessly used his arm blaster, shooting Sentinel's shield out of his grip and out of sight. Sentinel cursed and charged the Decepticon leader with his lance. "Die Decepticon!" Megatron parried with ease and blasted Sentinel in the chest, sending him flying backwards. "Is that all you have, I'm dissapointed. Optimus can ut up a better fight than you." Megatron said as he got closer for a finishing blow. Seeing this, the Magnus used his hammer to knock back and away from his fallen comrade. "You will go no futher Megatron." said Ultra Magnus. Megatron smirked, "Then let's have at it!" he said as he charged the Magnus.

As this happened, Jazz was fighting the multiple personalities of Blitzwing, dodging fire and ice attacks the best he could. His nun-chucks and ninja skills could only do so much to the crazy 'con. He was hit by a fire attack and before he could recover, was frozen by ice.

"Ha ha ha! Frozen autobot." Blitzwing said. His victory didn't last long though, for Jetfire hit the ice with his own fire, freeing Jazz. "Thanks little dude." said Jazz as he began fighting Blitzwing again.

The jet twins weren't fairing well when fighting the Lugnut. He launched a non-stop barrage of missles at the young bots as they tried to dodge them. Jetstorm used his wind as his brother used fire. They did not have the time to combine into Safeguard either. Then Lugnut used his POKE punch and knocked them out, dealing serious damage.

Lugnut yelled, "All hail Megatron!" in victory. And helped Blitzwing defeat Jazz.

As Megatron fought Ultra Magnus, he recieved a comm. message from Strika of Team Charr. "Lord Megatron, we have located the map and captured the autobot like you asked." "Good," he said before announcing, "Decepticons retreat!" They left quickly, leaving the battered team to themselves.

Sentinel recovered enough to help Ultra Magnus care for Jazz and the twins. After a few minutes, Optimus and his crew arrived, badly beaten. Optimus had several cuts in his armor and mild signs of rust. Prowl had pieces of armor missing and a large dent on his arm. Bulkhead had a large wound on his shoulder and a blackened optic. Ratchet was little better, his leg inopperable due to cosmic rust and was using Prowl as a support. Sari was hurt the least, gaining only minor bruises and scrapes.

The repair team looked down, 'Something is not right.' thought Sentinel. Then Ultra Magnus asked, "What happened?" An uncomfortable silence followed, then Optimus replied, "We were ambushed by another group of decepticons." "It was Team Charr." said Ratchet as he began working on Jazz.

The twins looked at the repair crew and noticed the lack of yellow mini-bots. "Where is to being Bumblebee?" asked Jetfire. The questioned caused Sari to tear up. "They took him. The decepticons took Bumblebee."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - The Missing Bee**

**On the Decepticon ship...**

Groaning, Bumblebee awoke from stasis to find that he was inside a prison cell on the decepticons' ship. He was still sore from the pounding that he received by the decepticons earlier. He tried to stand up, when he got a jolt of pain from his left leg, causing him to fall. He struggled into a siting position and leaned against the wall of the cell that he was in. "Slagging 'cons." he cursed as he looked at the damage. His leg armor had a gash in it, exposing fragile circuitry and he had dents all over his frame. Trying to fight the pain he was feeling, he thought about his friends and fight that ended with his capture.

_Flashback..._

_Bumblebee and Sari were following Optimus and the others to the escape pod. When they got there, the pod was gone, all that was left was a pile of rusted metal._

_"This doesn't bode well." said Prowl. "Right you are autobots." said a voice behind them. They turned around and saw a group of decepticons. "Slag, that's Team Charr." said Ratchet. "Yep were slagged." Bee said while charging his stingers. The others also got ready to battle._

_The leader of the team chuckled, "It seems are reputation precedes us. But, we'll make you a deal." said Strika. "Hand over the map and the mini-bot and we'll leave you intact."_

_The upon hearing this, the autobots felt unsettled. Then Sari yelled, "We will never give our friend to you!" To make her point, she threw an energy ball at Strika's faceplate, making the 'con mad._

_"I gave you a chance to survive but now we will take them by force." She signalled for her team to attack and sent a few missiles to the autobots._

_They dodged the missiles, but left themselves open to attack from the other decepticons. Optimus and Ratchet faced Oilslick, Bulkhead took on Blackout, Prowl took on Spitter, and Bumblebee and Sari took on Strika, though not by choice._

_Oilslick was throwing vials of his cosmic rust while Ratchet used his magnetic powers to keep them away. Every vial that bounced off of Ratchet's shield hit the walls and floor, making the area unstable and hard to manuever around. Optimus, while dodging a vial, backed into a wall covered in rust. Some of it spread to him, but not enough to be life threatening._

_Ratchet was not so lucky. His leg got hit by a vial and rusted, making it impossible to maneuver with._

_Bulkhead wasn't having much luck either having been hit by Blackout's fist right in the faceplate knocking him out fairly quick. Blackout then went to help Strika with Bumblebee and Sari._

_Prowl dodged Spitter's tounge the best he could, while throwing shuriken after shuriken at the frogish bot. Each one was caught and spat back at him in an orange explosive goop. While running, Prowl got hit by an explosion and was hurled into a wall. Before he could recover, he was caught and gobbled up by Spitter, he was spat out with the goop all over him and impacted with Optimus and Ratchet. The resulting explosion sent them flying._

_With the others unable to help, Team Charr went after Bumblebee and Sari._

_Sari kept throwing energy balls at Strika and Bumblebee used his stingers. Strika paid little attention to the techno-organic's weak attacks._

_She focused her attacks on Bumblebee sending missles in his direction. He was able to dodge them all, much to the decepticon's surprise._

_When the other autobots fell, Oilslick fought Sari while the others ganged up on Bumblebee._

_Blackout punched Bee in the chest and he went flying into a wall. Strika sent a round of missiles at him as he tried to get up. He barely dodged in time to escape damage. He couldn't get up, his leg wouldn't allow it._

_"Bumblebee!" yelled Sari, while trying to get to her friend. Bumblebee was picked up by Spitter's tounge and handed to Strika._

_"We have what we came for. Let's go." said Strika. "No, let me go!" yelled the struggling Bumblebee. Strika had enough and hit Bee in the back of the head, knocking him out._

End of flashback...

Bee sat in his cell, looking around for a means to escape. He found none and even if he did, he knew he was in no condition to move let alone fighting a ship full of 'cons. He sighed, 'I hope my friends find me soon.' He closed his optics and fell into an uneasy recharge.

* * *

**On the autobot ship...**

The autobots were being repaired by Ratchet , Sari, and First Aid, from Team Athenia. Team Athenia happened to be tracking Team Charr when they came across the damaged autobot ship.

Rodimus Prime, the leader of the new team, was talking to his old pals Sentinel and Optimus after speaking with Ultra Magnus. Bulkhead, Jazz, and Prowl tried to fix the ship's computer enough to get a copy of the coordinates to the Ark so they could use Team Athenia's ship.

Hot Shot, Ironhide, and Brawn helped with getting what supplies they could salvage onto their ship.

With everyone patched up and the coordinates downlowded, they boarded the other ship. They were all in the ship's command center, being updated on the events of the past few days.

"So are we going after the decepticons or the Ark?" asked Rodimus. "Both, the decepticons are going to the Ark. We need to catch up to them before they get access to the vault." Ultra Magnus said.

"What is so important about it? I mean, what is in this vault that you are so worried about?" asked Hot Shot, earning him a glare from Sentinel. "What?"

Ultra Magnus replied, "The vault that is located on the Ark is not an ordinary vault. It contains powerful weapons used during the fight with Unicron-"

"We thought he is to being myth." said the jet twins. Ultra Magnus shook his head, "No he was very real until the original thirteen Primes were able to defeat him." "Oh."

"As I was saying, the Ark was built to protect these weapons and to keep them available for Unicron's return." finished the Magnus. "Wait, he's going to come back?" asked Hot Shot

"Defeated does not necessarily mean dead." said Brawn. "Correct, Unicron is an entity that, as far as we know, can not be killed. He is, like Primus, a god. Only, he is the god of destruction, while Primus is a god of life." Said Ultra Magnus.

"So, I understand who this Unicron is, but who are the original primes supposed to be?" asked Sari.

"The thirteen primes, the original primes, are known as the first Cybertronians. They were built by Primus to oversee the creation and early stages of our race." said Ultra Magnus. As he said this, records of the beginning was shown.

"When our race was still young, Unicron showed up and tried to destroy us. Cybertron's only defense at the time was the Thirteen Primes and the army they amassed to protect the planet." A picture showed up on the screen of the primes and other transformers fighting the evil planet, Unicron and his terrorcon minions.

"After a fierce battle, Unicron retreated to the edge of the universe. Many millenium afterwards, the Primes had designed and built many powerful weapons to combat Unicron for whenever he chose to return." Pictures of the Ark and Defender's construction and after shots popped up on the screen.

"The Ark and Defender were later built to keep these weapons safe. Because of their sizes, the ships became a small colonies with the large number of workers and their families being moved there. When the war began, the Primes and their families moved into the Ark and had the ships leave Cybertron. They couldn't allow the weapons that were created to fight Unicron be used to fight each other." said Ultra Magnus as the same group picture of the Primes and their families popped up.

"Wow...Hey that Prime in the front has a hammer just like yours." said Sari to the Magnus.

He looked at the techno-organic and replied, "The current military chain of command is based off the Primes' own chain of command. That Prime," he said while indicating the mech in the center, "is, Magnum Prime, their leader. The title of Magnus and the magnus hammer are symbols to respect his leadership. The title of Prime is a step down from Magnus and respects the rest of the primes." said Ultra Magnus.

"Then your names aren't prime and magnus?" asked Sari. He shook his head and said, "No."

"So if Magnus and Prime are ranks, did you have your names changed?" asked Bulkhead. Ultra Magnus, Optimus, and Rodimus said, "Yes." while Sentinel said, "No."

"I'm confused." said Hot Shot. "Sentinel's name didn't change when he became a prime." said Optimus. "Oh, that makes sense." he said, still confused.

"So what are your names if I might ask?" asked First Aid. "Ultra Dion." said Ultra Magnus. "Orion Pax." said Optimus. "Hot Rod." said Rodimus.

"Cool, reminds me of aliases." said Sari. They all continued to talk about little things while they fly through space.

The picture of the Primes was still on the main screen, ignored by all but one. When Prowl had seen Magnum Prime and the femme next to him, he noticed similarities to their missing friend. He began to turn around to join the others when he noticed the small sparkling that the femme was holding. He was so absorbed into the picture that he jumped when Jazz came up to him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked. Prowl quickly recovered from being startled and replied, "This sparkling in the front." he pointed to said sparkling, "doesn't he look familiar to you?"

Looking closer Jazz said, "Your right he does look familiar. Wait, what are those on his head." he pointed to two little dots atop the sparkling head.

"I can't tell. Is there a chance we can zoom in to see better?" asked Prowl. "Good idea, give me a second." said Jazz as he zoomed into the picture.

The larger picture revealed the dots to be horns, identical to Bumblebee's. They looked at the enlarged picture for another minute and before they could say anything, someone behind them yelled, "OH, MY PRIMUS!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to see that Ratchet was the one who yelled. They saw him staring at the enlarged picture and the sparkling in the center.

The earth team, the Magnus team, and Ironhide all gasped at the picture. "Is that Bumblebee?" asked Sari. "It can't be." said Bulkhead. "The little bumbler is a Prime?!" asked Sentinel, earning him glares for the bumbler comment. "Ratchet are you sure that that sparkling is Bumblebee?" asked Optimus.

"Yes I'm sure! The kid's physical characteristics are the same as this sparkling's. And look at the femme." Ratchet said defending his outburst, "Other than the doorwings and being a mech, Bumblebee is the spitting image of her."

"He is right." said Prowl. "Well this is a stunning revelation." said First Aid. "No kidding." said Hot Shot.

"Well this is all fine and dandy, but shouldn't we be focused on finding the kid before we worry about him being a Prime's kid or not?" said Brawn.

"He is right. We will focus on reaching the Ark and a plan to rescue Bumblebee from the decepticons before we do anything about this. I suggest we all recharge, this has been a difficult day for all of us." said the Magnus.

They all agreed and went their separate ways to their assigned rooms, which are pared due to the lack of space. Sentinel shared with Optimus, Jazz with Prowl, the jet twins were with Bulkhead, and Ultra Magnus with Ratchet.

While the others rested, Team Athenia was on duty, piloting the ship and keeping an eye out for the decepticons.

* * *

**On the decepticon ship...**

Bumblebee woke from recharge groggily when he felt a sharp pain in his leg. Opening his eyes, he saw a blur standing over him.

"Wake up, autobrat." the blur said as it stepped his injured leg. He grunted from the pain, his vision clearing up enough to see the figure clearly.

It was Strika. He glared at her and asked, "What do you want?" "Our glorious Lord Megatron demands your presence." she replied.

"And if I refuse?" he inquired. She picked him up and through him hard to the ground. He groaned loudly, too weak to scream or get up. Strika picked him up again and brought his faceplate close to hers, "That was a warning, youngling. You will do as Lord Megatron commands; fighting back will only get you killed."

With that, she proceeded to drag Bumblebee through the halls and to the ship's command center, where the other decepticons were waiting.

She deposited him in front of Megatron and fell back in line next to Lugnut. The decepticon lord studied Bee, noticing that the mini-bot was a lot younger than he had first thought, 'Perhaps less than a thousand years into his second frame? That would make him around 13,000 to 14,000 years old.'

Bumblebee made himself sit indian style, ignoring the pain it caused his leg. He glared at Megatron while the 'con studied him. When he had enough of being stared at, he said, "Well, are you going to say something or stare at me all day?"

"How dare you speak to Lord Megatron that way!" yelled Lugnut. A glare from Megatron stopped him from saying anymore.

Turning back to the mini-bot, Megatron asks, "You are the autobot known as Bumblebee correct?" "Why are you asking a question that you already know the answer to?" Bee asks.

Megatron gave a stern look to Bumblebee, waiting for him to answers. Bee rolled his optics, "Yes, I'm bumblebee."

"Good. Now, if you would hand over the map to the Ark." Megatron asks with an outstretched servo. Bumblebee hesitated before opening his subspace pocket and took out the map.

The decepticons looked at it in aw as Bee gave his treasure to Megatron. In the back ground Blitzwing, as random, said "Oo, shiny!" before getting smacked inn the back of the head by Blackarachnia.

Megatron smirked evilly as he handed to map to Soundwave, who hooked it up to the ship's computer and imputed the coordinates to the Ark.

The ship changed direction slightly towards their destination. Seeing that his plans are coming together, the decepticon lord turned and walked back to where Bumblebee was, still sitting on the floor.

Megatron looked at the scout, "Now, what shall we do with you?" he asked to no one in particular. Bee glared at him and said, "You could let me go."

"Nonsense, you are too valuable to just let go." Megatron said. 'valuable? How am I valuable?' thought Bumblebee.

Noticing Bee's confusion Megatron laughed. "Tell me, do you know who your parents are?" he asked. "What does that have to do with anything?" said Bee.

"Answer the question." said Megatron. "My mother's name is GoldBee, and I never knew my father." Bee said quickly. That wasn't entirely true though, his mother would talk about his father all the time, how he was a brave soldier and a wise leader. She told Bumblebee many stories about the Primes and the adventures she and his father went on with them. Whenever Bee would ask her where his father was, she would get sad and say that he had to go away, but that someday Bee would meet him.

"Isn't that a shame?" Megatron said dissapointedly. "I thought that your mother would have told you about your father, about how he was one of the greatest warriors in Cybertronian history, that he was the mech who led our planet to victory against Unicron, or that he was one of the few who have seen the creation of our race."

Bumblebee was stunned and confused, everything that Megatron was telling him was like the stories that his mother would tell him when he was a sparkling.

Megatron smirked knowingly at the confused mini-bot. "Your father's is Magnum Prime, the very same Magnum Prime that is the leader of the legendary Thirteen Primes."

Bumblebee was confused, although everything that was said made sense. He now knew why the decepticons captured him and possibly why he had the map to the Ark, but too many questions came into his already strained processor. 'Why didn't my mother tell me the truth?' 'Why did my father have to go away?' 'Will I ever meet him?' The questions kept piling up, straining his processor and frustrating Bee to tears.

Megatron grabbed Bumblebee by the arm and threw him across the room and was caught by Strika. "Get him repaired and weapons deactivated, once your done put him back in his cell." Strika bowed, "As you wish my lord." then left the room taking Bumblebee with her.

* * *

**Author's Note...**

If you have any suggestions for the story, please tell me through your reviews or private messages. I will be happy to incorporate them with recognition to the viewers who provided the ideas.

Until the next chapter, this it Smartcat9 signing off.


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